Design

Asia 2017, The Triumph of Design

PDP - second edition, Giorgio Biscaro and his table for Hupchong F urniture.

There is something up and going in Asia
this year, and it is the attention to design.

Every Fair of the Asian Circuit in March,
from the most conservative to the most
mature, has clearly showed that the impact of
design is the next big thing in the area, and every
one of them is clearly investing in what seems to
be the new trend of the Asian furniture business –
essential to target the budding Asian Middle Class.

As for the OECD data, in 2030 the 66% of the global
Middle Class, and the 59% of its expenditures, will
happen in Asia. This is the main reason why it will be
important to focus on activities such as design and
branding to give more value to the local products.

EFE 2017 - The pathfinder
EFE - Export Furniture Exhibition is the exportdriven
furniture trade fair held from the 8th to the 11th in KLCC. It has hosted over 300 exhibitors
(+16% from the previous year) and over 10.000
visitors (+11%).

Between the activities of the Fair, the Hall 7 has
hosted the exhibit dedicated to the Second Edition
of the PDP - Professional Designers Programme - a
project that has involved 4 international designers
and 11 local designers, who, working for 4 Malaysian
companies, have presented 20 new original product
designs.

The PDP was launched in 2015 to support the
furniture companies to introduce the design as a
revolutionary force in the manufacturing process.
Organized by the Malaysian Furniture Promotion
Council, and supported by the Malaysian Timber
Industry Board, the PDP is sponsored by the MPIC,
Minister of Plantation, Industries and Commodities,
which is actively helping the furniture industry
through this transformation phase.

The Malaysian companies are indeed passing
through a very delicate phase in a context of deep
changes in the area, which will represent the main
market where to focus the marketing efforts in the
next future.

But it seems that this was the right direction to take;
as of today, Malaysia is the one country which has a
dedicated Government program to actively promote
and support state-of-the-art furniture design.

MIFF 2017, inspired by design

MIFF 2017 - the turning point
The 23rd edition of MIFF - Malaysian International
Furniture Fair - was also held from March 8 to 11
in Kuala Lumpur, in the PWTC + MECC venues,
and has attracted 500 exhibitors and about 20,000
visitors, confirming itself as one of the most
important trade fairs of the Asian Circuit.
MIFF is one of the largest and most comprehensive
exhibits of all Southeast Asia, hosting the most
diverse product sectors, and it will definitely get
bigger next year.

In 2018, with the inauguration of the new Malaysia
International Trade & Exhibition Center (MITEC), in
addition to the present PWTC, the exhibition area
will expand to 100,000 square meters: this will allow
MIFF to host over 600 exhibitors.

As MIFF President Datuk Dr Tan Chin Huat pointed
out, MIFF is evolving to meet the demands of
operators and to keep pace with the market.
Companies are also evolving, and investing more
in research and development to adapt products to
new, demanding customers.

This is why the title of the next edition of MIFF will
be: “Design Connects People”, to underline the will
of MIFF to create ever more business opportunities
thanks to design and creativity.

To this end, a new specific initiative will be launched:
designRena.

DesignRena will be a dedicated platform for
selected companies that could expose their most
design-oriented products, creating a connection
between the designers of the Furniture Design
Competition and the companies most interested in
this area.

IFFS 2017 - a fair in transformation
Held from 9th to 12th March, the 34th Edition of
the IFFS - International Furniture Show Singapore -
ended with 428 Exhibitors and 21,996 visitors.
An edition that creates some doubts, but at the
same time, opens up new, different perspectives.

Mark Yong, Chairman of SFIC - Singapore Industries
Furniture Council, appointed in November
2016, said: “Our industry requires an innovative
approach and new direction of intervention. This
transformation will be based on digital technology,
which will enable innovation in production,
improving capacity and productivity, to adapt to the
new needs.”

The fair has always been attentive to design, and
since some years, it has embarked on a decisive
turnaround of exhibitors, favoring companies
that devote themselves to product research and
innovation.

Among these, we find Singaporean companies
like Sam & Sara, Grafunkt, Minzu by Nathan Yong, Journey East - with the PlayPlay collection
by Lanzavecchia + Wai, dBodhi, Koda, with the
Commune brand, Star Furniture, with the Jotter
Goods brand.

The Italian Hospitality Lounge - a true new entry
in the design area - deserves a more detailed
description. Curated by Giulio Cappellini, an artistic
director of great experience, the Italian Hospitality
Lounge has offered a selection of renowned brands
alongside some less known, but highly-interesting
manufacturers. In a very essential setting, the Italian
companies have exhibited iconic products of a
perfect workmanship, typically “Made in Italy”.

It remains to be seen whether the fair will decide
to aim further - one of the possibilities is to move
to a much more prestigious venue - and how
much it will invest in its ability to attract a higher
level of operators. But given its goals, we are quite
confident it will.

CIFF 2017, held in its historic Guangzhou venue,
has proven to be a success.
A record number of 3,992 exhibitors took part
of its 39th edition, attracting a total of 191,950
professional visitors worldwide (+13.7% over 2016).
Those numbers make it one of the biggest furniture
fairs of the world, but until now, not one which was
known for its attention to design.

MIFF 2017, the booth of the company SJY.

IFFS 2017, the Italian Hospitality Lounge by Giulio Cappellini

Prepare for a change. The Chinese Giant has
awaken, and it is beginning to flex its muscles.

Mr. Li, Chairman of the fair, has pointed out that in
response to the needs of the furniture industry for
improving quality and reach, CIFF will spare no effort
to create the theme of “Better Life, Better Work”
and increase value for exhibitors and audiences.

And he was not bragging. The fair have worked hard
in the main area where China is very strong: the
creation of infrastructures and systems to help the
companies compete internationally, both traditional
and innovative, online-based, as well as specific
initiatives in the development of the design field.

A flurry of activities centered around design
inception has punctuated the fair: between these,
we can cite the array of design talks by worldwide
experts; the several design exhibits, between which
we can cite the Chinese Original Design Exhibition
2017, co-curated by ADC and Kong Wu, a winner
of Red Dot Design Award; a thorough exploration of
the latest trends, in the Interiors & Decoration Trend
Show 2017; and the Pinnacle Awards Asia Pacific,
launched in cooperation with the American Society
of Furniture Designers.

But what is more, the effects of this injection of
design are already there in the show. More and more
Chinese manufacturers are investing into design,
creating objects ranging from the sophisticated
offerings of Aris, art directed by one of the pioneers
of the design thinking in Asia, Marco Giorgetti, to the
evolutionary traditional Chinese design of J.living, to
the reinterpreted Scandinavian aesthetics of Hong
Kong’s Elmood, apart from the “usual suspects” of
design like, Kinetik, Ooland and Moreless.

The request for design is strong, and we definitely
can see more international designers coming
joining the ranks of Karim Rashid, Luca Nichetto,
Tobia Repossi and Francesco Favaretto, who have
setup a studio in China.

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FFE is Asia's number 1 furniture export-import magazine. It has a regular circulation of 25,000 copies in PRINT sent by post to trade professionals around the world - Asia Pacific (52%)), Middle East (21%), Europe (13%) and rest of the world (14%). Each issue of the magazine is also available in web and eBook formats. Both the web and eBook editions are available for free access, 365 days, 24 x 7.